In a wireless communication system, unnecessary and excessive operation by an access terminal may cause substantial reduction in battery power of the access terminal. The data communicated between an access terminal and an access point may pass through several layers of protocols for assuring proper flow of data through the system. At the access terminal, the flow of data may be controlled by a processor. The processor may be in communication with a demodulator. The demodulator may include a decoder. The received signal is demodulated and decoded to produce decoded data. The decoded data are passed to the processor. The demodulator and decoder may have a number of components, including a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, and programmable components. Generally, a decision by the processor for controlling the flow of data may reach the demodulator and decoder portions in an uncontrollable manner such that the control process may terminate the operation of the demodulator or decoder prematurely. One example of a control process may include the process of handoff for the access terminal from a first access point to a second access point. The demodulator or decoder may be in the process of processing the signal from the first access point in the communication system when the handoff control process reaches the demodulator. When the operation of the demodulator or the decoder is terminated prematurely, the processed data may be lost. As a result, the access terminal may need to unnecessarily repeat one or more operations.
Therefore, there is a need to control an operation of an access terminal while processing a signal from an access point in a communication system.